Our number system is a legacy of our culture. The study of how mothers teach their children about number provides important insishts into the way in which children come to interweave their own developing undostandings with achievements that have occurred in our culture's social histoy.

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The sociocultural context in which children acquire and use everyday mathematics was studied in Brazilian shantytown communities. Children's developing mathematical abilities and use of currency in solving commercial problems were investigated. Interviews with the parents of 105 children from 4 to 14 years of age indicated that, when sent to make purchases at local stands, the problems entailed in the responsibilities parents assigned to children involved greater arithmetical complexity with increasing age. Children's accuracy and strategy use on arithmetic tasks similar to the problems encountered in commercial transactions revealed: (a) many children used currency to aid their problem solving; (b) with increasing age, currency use declined; and (c) children's currency use progressed from global estimates to the mental decomposition and manipulation of currency values. The mathematical complexity of children's commercial transactions correlated significantly with their mathematics performance even when age, grade in school, and years of schooling were statistically controlled The results provide evidence that by adjusting the mathematical complexity of children's commercial transactions, parents facilitate connections between children's developing competence and their everyday activities.

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